Table of Contents

Author's NoteAppomattoxPrologueBook One: Line in the SandOne: Corpus ChristiTwo: Rio GrandeThree: Rough and ReadyFour: Fields of FireFive: Call to BattleSix: Fort TexasSeven: ClashEight: Resaca de la PalmaNine: Brown BessTen: VolunteersEleven: Growing UpBook Two: Taylor's WarTwelve: CamargoThirteen: Star-Spangled BannerFourteen: Eager for ActionFifteen: First MississippiSixteen: The WesternerSeventeen: The RiflesEighteen: Supply TrainNineteen: PreludeTwenty: Monterrey, Day OneTwenty-One: Monterrey, Day TwoTwenty-Two: The MortarBook Three: Politics and WarTwenty-Three: Change of CommandTwenty-Four: The Perils of OccupationTwenty-Five: Policy and PowerBook Four: Scott's WarTwenty-Six: TransfersTwenty-Seven: The Artillery OfficerTwenty-Eight: One Step CloserTwenty-Nine: CaliforniaThirty: Taylor Stands AloneThirty-One: The HaciendaThirty-Two: Lobos IslandThirty-Three: InvasionThirty-Four: National RoadThirty-Five: Twiggs's DilemmaThirty-Six: ReconnaissanceThirty-Seven: Pressing the AdvantageBook Five: The Aztec ClubThirty-Eight: "Nothing Can Stop This Army"Thirty-Nine: Old GloryForty: ConquestForty-One: Fourth of JulyEpilogueAcknowledgmentsAppendix AAppendix BAppendix CSelected Notes and BiographiesSelected BibliographyIndex

About the Author

Martin Dugard is the New York Times best-selling author of such nonfiction titles as The Last Voyage of Columbus, Farther Than Any Man, Knockdown, Chasing Lance, and Into Africa.

Reviews

“Action-packed and peopled by intriguing characters.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Dugard’s spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army.”—Publishers Weekly

“Canny in its depictions of intriguing, powerful personalities and Machiavellian politics, meticulous in its textured battlefield and logistical descriptions, The Training Ground has the fast-paced feel of a good historical novel, but it’s all well-researched fact.”—American History

"The Training Ground is an interesting, often insightful account of the experiences of U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman and Jefferson Davis during the Mexican War. . . . Worth a read for anyone interested in the Civil War and the development of senior military leadership."—A. A. Nofi, NYMAS Review

"This book gives an interesting sidelight on the Mexican War and a foretaste of the American Civil War."—Stan Moore, Denver Westerners Roundup

In his newest work, New York Times best-selling author Dugard (The Last Voyage of Columbus: America's Continental Dream and the Mexican War, 1846-1848) gives a straightforward account of the Mexican War, but with a twist. He lets us see the war through the eyes of several young officers--primarily Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee but also George G. Meade, William T. Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and others--who would rise to prominence during the Civil War. While Dugard does sketch in the big picture so that the reader is able to understand the course of the Mexican War, his purpose is to provide a richly detailed account of the battles, secret missions, and daring rescues and thus to show how participation in the Mexican War prepared these junior officers for the roles they would later play in the Civil War. Academic libraries will prefer Joseph Wheelan's Invading Mexico, Timothy J. Henderson's A Glorious Defeat, and John C. Pinheiro's Manifest Ambition. This less scholarly book will appeal to lay readers and Civil War buffs and is recommended for all public libraries.--Stephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

"Action-packed and peopled by intriguing characters."-Kirkus Reviews
"Dugard's spirited narrative animates a group of men whose force of character, professional skill and ability to think outside conventional limits revitalized the sclerotic army."-Publishers Weekly
"Canny in its depictions of intriguing, powerful personalities and Machiavellian politics, meticulous in its textured battlefield and logistical descriptions, The Training Ground has the fast-paced feel of a good historical novel, but it's all well-researched fact."-American History
"The Training Ground is an interesting, often insightful account of the experiences of U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman and Jefferson Davis during the Mexican War. . . . Worth a read for anyone interested in the Civil War and the development of senior military leadership."-A. A. Nofi, NYMAS Review
"This book gives an interesting sidelight on the Mexican War and a foretaste of the American Civil War."-Stan Moore, Denver Westerners Roundup